S**T Happens. Sometimes Often. And at Inconvenient Times.

Making Change and TRANSITION EASYer on YOURself!
Sharing a weekly Idea and Challenge on change and transition with YOU!

An idea for YOU!

Have YOU ever had one of those days where everything just seems to go wrong?
How about a whole week where everything just seems to go wrong?
And the “going wrong” usually seems to happen at the most inconvenient of times.
I actually had a whole summer, last summer, where everything seemed to go wrong.
But before I share that story with YOU.
I want to share a story of a week where everything seemed to go right,
But then, as sure as death and taxes, S**T Happened.

But, yes, another but,
I want to first share a story of how I started to deal with all the S**T,
that seems to keep happening.
The clothes dryer no longer works when you push the button! ☹
YOU find water leaking out of your fridge! ☹
YOU drop your car keys down a storm drain! ☹
YOUR alarm does not go off. Ooops! Time to re-book my vacation flight! ☹
It rains the day that YOU planned your outdoor wedding ceremony! ☹
Insert YOUR latest S**T happens story here____________________________! ☹

What I have recently realized is that,
Although some of the S**T is serious,
most is NOT.
Not in the larger scheme of things.
But when a bunch of them pile up,
they may seem serious.
Kind of a compounding effect.
Enough small ones and soon enough it feels like a volcano exploding.
If we are tired,
they also feel more serious,
If we make them seem more serious,
they also feel more serious.
Etc.

But what I also realized is that even if they seemed serious at the time,
I always seemed to get through them.
The world has not yet come to an end.
I eventually got the dryer repaired and
never did end up going to work in wet clothes.

So, one day I decided that I would treat these S**T disturbances
As the relatively minor things that they are.
After all, I thought to myself,
It is up to me how I react to these things.
So, I started to react to them in a whole different way.
Instead of becoming discouraged, I would just brush them off.
I added them to my to-do list to be dealt with,
but I did not add them to my worry list.
I did not add them to my get discouraged list.
I did not add them to my get frustrated list.

And YOU know what?
It actually made a difference.
In the end, whether I get upset or not, the situation remains the same,
But in this case, I remained in a much better mental and emotional state of mind.
How cool is that!
Every time S**T happened,
I would remind myself, “S**T happens”,
And I would just move on and deal with it.
Talk about self-awareness.😊

I was getting so good at dealing with S**T in this way,
that I was becoming a bit cocky.
And that is when I got my first test.
Just to lull me in to more of a sense of potentially false security,
everything went perfect for me for one whole week.
I had been traveling and facilitating leadership sessions out of town,
I was sitting in the airport lounge on my way home,
sipping on a glass of red wine,
Feet up on a chair reading a magazine.
Looking forward to coming home and watching a movie in my movie room.
Looing forward to another glass of wine while watching that movie.
I felt so great at the time that I actually took a picture to honour the occasion.
And then it happened!
The S**T happened.

When I got home,
I started to get ready for the movie,
And then I noticed it.
My fish aquarium was leaking.
And not only was my fish aquarium real big,
It had a system to automatically add water lost from evaporation,
So, the system had been adding water to my house since I had left.
Yikes!
Actually, I did not say Yikes.
I said, “Oopsy. I better go get a mop”.
“I better turn off the water and get a mop and start mopping”.
But first, I am going to grab that glass of wine I was looking forward to.
The movie, though, will have to wait.
At least a bit.
What can I say.
S**T Happens. 😊

Wow. Cool test.
Cool in that I passed it.
And I passed the test the following summer when everything in my house
Seemed to brake on me.
At least the washer and dryer went at the same time so I could save on the
travel time being charged on the repair bill.
Lots of S**T happened that summer but,
the world did not come to an end.

I continue to get tested,
Do I always pass?
No.
I am not perfect,
nor do I want or expect to be perfect.
But for the most part I have done a pretty good job,
If I do say so myself.
Of not letting all that S**T pile up and drain my energy.
I would prefer to use my energy on more important matters.

When I forget my new approach.
This new way of making these situations EASYer on Myself.
I like to remember my aquarium story.
Good thing that I thought to take a picture of that occasion as well. 😊
More like the outcome from that occasion.
The cover picture to this blog.

So, remember,
The choice is YOURs!
YOU can let all the minor “S**T disturbances” in YOUR life get YOU down.
As someone told me “it sometimes feels like I am in front of a boxer receiving punch after punch”.
Or, YOU can try and roll with the punches, and not let them beat YOU up. 😊
Hard to do at times.
But, as far as I am concerned,
It can make a huge difference on the mental and emotional energy fronts.

If you do decide to go that route,
Then enjoy.
Enjoy the new-found freedom of peace of mind,
that comes from not sweating the small stuff.

My challenge for YOU!

Next time something nasty but minor happens to YOU!
Acknowledge it for what it is.
A minor inconvenience in the greater scheme of things.
Smile and move on.
Don’t let it win.
Let YOU win!

A few more win’s like that.
And before you know it.
It will be EASYer for YOU able to tackle some of the larger ones in a similar way. 😊

Enjoy the challenge and,
Here’s to making change, EASYer on YOURSELF!

Cheers

Dave
Professional Coach and Storyteller

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